Africa offers among the world's best investment prospects as emerging markets grow ever more important, although its economies risk being destabilized by the slew of capital they stand to attract in coming years.
Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday after the previous session's tepid gains, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.3 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.4 percent at 4 a.m. EDT.
Investment flows to the world's four biggest emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- slowed slightly in the first half of 2010, but growth rates and the pace of dealmaking remain strong, data shows.
Strong physical buying helped pluck gold from a 6-week low on Wednesday after China said bullion would not become a major investment home for its foreign exchange reserves.
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange said U.S. Treasury securities would remain an important market for the managers of China's official currency reserves, but gold would not become a major component of the central bank's portfolio.
The U.S. Treasury Department is expected to again decline to name China a currency manipulator in a long-delayed report that will likely anger congressional critics of Beijing's policies.
The report was due April 15 but was delayed until after last month's G20 leaders' summit in Canada. China said just before the G20 met that it will make the yuan's exchange rate more flexible gradually and end a two-year peg to the dollar.
Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday as investors worried global growth was faltering, while the euro hovered near a 7-week high as investors shunned long positions in the dollar.
China should not yet stand down from its active fiscal and loose monetary policies, but it needs to gradually prepare expectations for an orderly exit, a senior central bank official said.
Google's application to renew its webpage license in China is currently under review with no set deadline, a government official said on Wednesday.
As expected, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left interest rates on hold at 4.5 per cent. In the accompanying statement, RBA governor Mr Glenn Stevens noted that whilst underlying inflation is likely to be in the upper half of the target zone over the next year, current policy settings were described as appropriate.
Steel company Steel Development on Tuesday dismissed concerns raised by lawmakers over an investment from China's state-owned Anshan Iron and Steel Group in one of its steel mills.
China's official Xinhua news agency on Tuesday criticized a group of 50 U.S. lawmakers for calling for a probe into Chinese investment in the U.S. steel sector, saying protectionism was rearing its ugly head again.
The pace of global expansion in the private sector sagged in June to a four-month low, according to a survey on Tuesday that pointed to slowing growth in order books and employment.
Agricultural Bank of China priced its Hong Kong and Shanghai dual listing on Tuesday, a deal that would break all IPO records by raising more than $22 billion when adding in over-allotment shares.
Top Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp sold 30 percent more vehicles in June compared with a year earlier, the second slowest monthly gain so far this year as demand in the world's largest auto market moderates after rapid expansion in 2009.
European Union competition regulators approved on Tuesday the acquisition of Ford Motor's Volvo car unit by Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings and state-owned investment group Daqing.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a rise of more than 1 pct at the open on Tuesday on signs of strength in Europe's banking system and ahead of a $22 billion initial stock offering by the Agricultural Bank of China, set to be the biggest-ever IPO.
British oil company BP has approached sovereign wealth funds with a view to securing a strategic investor to fend off takeover bids while it deals with its massive U.S. oil spill, a senior UAE source said on Tuesday.
Gold rose back above $1,210 an ounce in Europe on Tuesday as physical demand for the precious metal recovered after last week's price dip, and as the weaker dollar encouraged some buying.
Spot gold was bid at $1,210.15 an ounce at 7:37 a.m. EDT (1137 GMT), against $1,206.95 late in New York on Monday. U.S. gold futures for August delivery firmed $2.30 an ounce to $1,210.00.
BP ruled out a share issue and talk persisted of sovereign wealth fund interest in the British oil major, boosting its shares on Tuesday even as its Gulf of Mexico oil slick spread to the Texas coast.
Agricultural Bank of China, the country's No.3 bank by assets, has closed the books on its dual Hong Kong and Shanghai share sale and could break all IPO records by raising more than $22 billion.
Agricultural Bank of China, the country's No.3 bank by assets, has closed the books on its dual Hong Kong and Shanghai share sale and is on track to raise around $20 billion in what could be the world's largest ever IPO.
India's investors are slowly waking up to the reality that gold is a good investment option.
In fact, asset management companies' are increasingly trying to woo investors. An allocation to gold is a standard fixture in many of the recent new fund offerings and even a bullion fund which was launched recently.
